Politics and 'Exile'

Pen Sovan, the late Chan Si [died under mysterious circumstances] among other former CPP leaders who had sought to defend Cambodian interests, or fell out of favour with Hanoi's leaders, had all suffered the same fate - one way or another. Sovan's case is particularly pertinent and indicative of Vietnam's meddling in Cambodia's politics given that the person who replaced him following his arrest and exile to Vietnam to face long term imprisonment there [where he was forced to eat left-over dog meat from Vietnamese prison guards] was none other than Hun Sen himself who continues to threaten and terrorize the country and its people to this day. By the time Sovan was released from prison and allowed to return to the country of his birth, his nation was already firmly consolidated under the grip of the CPP's single party rule, and more tellingly, his health and advanced age have ensured that he remains in a state of inactivity and limbo for the rest of his life.

Mr Rainsy's decision to live in exile or to return to Cambodia whatever the repercussions, is a matter of personal choice and conscience. It's interesting that neither his critics in the press, nor elsewhere, have bothered to criticise or question the late Sihanouk's decision to remain in foreign exile for much of his political life; the person Rainsy often mentions to explain his decision. These 'critics' have also been somewhat disingenuous in their conspicuous lack of interest over the personal risks Rainsy has taken over the course of his lengthy political career during which, at one point, he somehow miraculously survived a multiple grenade attack waged on a peaceful gathering he was leading in March 1997 by assassins of the Hun Sen regime who were, reportedly, linked to his notorious personal body guard unit.

Everyone knows the country as a whole is saturated with violence, from perceived slights, domestic issues and family feuds to political tensions and conflicts; all could be [and have often been] settled through violence. The country of Burma [Myanmar] may share this general culture of violence, but perhaps, not to the same extent, and Rainsy is also right to point out that unlike Cambodia, the Burmese military rulers are not under the yoke of a neighbouring power in quite the same way that the Cambodian regime is, or historically, has been.

The idea of a leader opting to remain with his own people and supporters in person, or returning to face his 'Aung San Suu Kyi moment' might have its romance and appeal to those observing from a safe and detached distance. However, let us all reflect on all these undercurrents and circumstances and have a bit of perspective and sense of realism or circumspection here. The Cambodian regime suddenly reissued Rainsy with an old court case whilst he was on a visit to S. Korea which would have resulted with immediate arrest and conviction had he chosen to return. The timing itself was obviously meant to nudge him into accepting another indefinite period of 'self-imposed' exile, thus sparing the regime from having to resort to taking what crude measures it would have had to take had he opted to go ahead with his scheduled return to the country.

An outbreak of violence on the scale of Veng Streng Blv crackdown of 2014 could have ensued, or possibly one exceeding it, culminating in a prolonged and protracted period of unrest and strife which in turn could have consumed more innocent lives and limbs. Just as in the tragic and bloody aftermath of the March 1997 grenade attack [when he faced condemnations from many quarters for "toying with innocents' lives"], whatever Rainsy chooses to do next is always going to be problematic for his supporters, and ‘cowardly' or unconscionable or wrong for his critics! It's a case of ‘damned if you do, and damned if you don't’! After all, it's not easy to please the 'critics'. As can be seen from the report below, they even mark him down for using the term "yuon" [Vietnamese/Vietnam in the Khmer language], insisting, wholly without basis or evidence, but merely on hearsay and innuendos, that this is "... considered derogatory by some"; a far more questionable [and in this writer's opinion, regrettably unethical for a well-known newspaper outlet] and "well-trodden line" than anything Rainsy himself could have thought of to justify his political and personal decisions.

Actually, in the final analysis, the waywardness, the convoluted paths and trajectories of Cambodia's politics, as much as that of the opposition CNRP itself, are all symptomatic of this nation's precarious ills and conditions that successions of its generations have had to grapple with over hundreds of years. If some people are only willing to allow themselves to look beyond the personalities, the petty behaviour of individuals, the delusions instilled in them by mass personal wealth and power, [the generating of which is an inextricable equation of these political patterns and legacy] etc. they would see the underlying forces and the actors that still shape and dictate the life and dynamics of the country and its people, including that of the political Opposition, putting them all on the back-foot, and in a position where they have to ‘react’, wrestle with threats and challenges, rather than behaving and moving on their own volition in an independent manner, as the Burmese people and their leaders of rival factions - for instance - are able to do.

In this sense, it isn't only Sam Rainsy who is being forced to remain in 'exile' [surely he, like all Cambodians, would rather be in a position to enter and leave the country freely?], but many of his party colleagues are also made to share this state of collective freedom curtailment and confinement, from senator Hong Sok Hour and MP Um Sam An, to acting CNRP president Kem Sokha, civil society activists and rights workers - along with all of Cambodia!

It is something of a sign of the
Cambodian people's inherent trust in his political leadership and hence a
marked gesture of support for, and vindication of, his public decisions that
Rainsy's previous return from his 'self-imposed exile' abroad in 2013 had been
met with hundreds of thousands of people turning up outside the airport to
welcome him. This mass turnout was, to this writer's knowledge, unprecedented
in this nation's modern history, and, perhaps, also his current predicament and
trouble are, ironically, one of the main casualties, or the flipside of, this
mass popularity and appeal that he has been able to engender among the Khmer
people.

9 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Khmer people should ask this question:

After Son Kuy let Ah Chor Yuon kill him, did Khmer Krom people get any land or any province back from this Chor Yuon?

Khmer culture belonged to Khmer Krom people. Son Kuy went into Yuon's trap by allowing Yuon to kill him presuming to preserve that culture. The right answer was that the barbarous Yuon who destroyed Khmer Krom culture should be punished.

That's why Sam Rainsy's option not to go back to Cambodia to let the Khmer traitor Hun Sen and his evil master Vietnam imprison and kill him is absolutely the right decision.

But, if Sam Rainsy decided to go back and got killed, the evil Vietnam and Hun Sen will do something to make Khmer people believe that this Sam Rainsy is not a martyr or a Khmer hero.

One of the evil Yuon's strategies is making Khmer people suspicious about the quality of Khmer leaders. Any Khmer leaders who can pose a threat to its puppet Hun Sen, the evil Vietnam will find way to discredit them.

In brief, the Yuon's tactic is breaking Khmer apart and preventing Khmer people from having the leaders.

Without the synergy effect of the Khmer people AND the signatories of the Paris Peace Accords,the Yuon-created Khmer problems CANNOT be solved.Hence, the successful rescue of our Motherland will not be made.No other Khmer alive can better undertake these long, difficult and costly endeavors than Mr. Sam Rainsy.

Well, they succeeded in making us fight each other, hate each other, not to trust each other since way back in Sihanouk's time up, HISTORICALLY, until now...NOTHING HAS CHANGED. What are we to do? Any bright ideas? Rainsy tries to stay alive hoping to rescue Khmer, then he has been labeled as a coward and an opportunist [esp. by the guy by the name of Dr. Schanly Kuch somewhere in MD, U.S] while nobody else dares sticking his/her head out to be cut off by HUN SEN...We can't even get along with each other on these two blogs Khmerization and KI-Media...What's next ?

Come to think of that, I just want to kick somebody in the butt [if I could jokingly, I kind of like the guy as a friend] for allegedly calling me a snake??? And my favorite KIMedia place [formally known as KI-Media] now tracks everybody online interactively??? It sucks big time into the hand of YUON, I tell you!!!...I used to like her as a #1 friend too besides this guy by the name of "1001 lingas" despite his over-my-head dissertation on any simple issue....NOW YOU ALL GOT MY RANTING...j/k

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